


Double Bulb

by Blizzardshock



Category: SCP Foundation, The Bright Sessions (Podcast)
Genre: Conversations, Early in Canon, Jack Bright is Weird, Joan Bright Doesn't Deserve This, Minor panic attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-23 12:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30055203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blizzardshock/pseuds/Blizzardshock
Summary: A stranger just walked into Joan's office.He claims they need to talk about her employment.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Double Bulb

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: intimidation, minor panic attack toward the end, mentions of the final fates of those taken over by 963
> 
> Their names are so similar it makes me want to laugh. Joan: stable and competent therapist. Jack: amoral immortal mad scientist. A wonderful pair of characters to mix up.

Joan had been organizing her notes for an upcoming appointment with Chloe when Sarah had buzzed her, sounding incredibly calm and composed.

“Dr. Bright? I’m sending someone up to you. He says he needs to talk to you about employment.”

Joan had enough time to feel terrified that someone had her receptionist at gunpoint before the man walked in, smiling wide. The smile reminded her uncomfortably of Damien’s when he was purposefully using his power.

“Dr. Joan Bright, right? You LED or neon?” he asked, quickly scanning her office before meeting her eyes.

“What?” Joan asked, stupefied.

She had been expecting some sort of threat. The man, although he had somehow managed to get Sarah to let him up, didn’t otherwise seem like he had come to be threatening.

The man was tall, almost spindly, with unhealthily pale skin and a large, ornate necklace sitting over a neat gray shirt that didn’t quite make his old jeans look professional. On the left breast was an insignia that Joan was certain she’d seen somewhere before: one outer gear-like circle, one inner circle pierced by three inward arrows.

The man followed her gaze and chuckled, tucking the necklace under his shirt.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re probably wondering, “Who is this weirdo who just flounced into my office?”, right?” he asked, flopping onto her couch like it was routine for him.

“I… wouldn’t put it in those words-” Joan started carefully, grabbing her pen and shifting her notes.

“But you were thinking it. I’m Dr. Bright too! Dr. Jack Bright.”

The man, Jack, glanced around her room again. It didn’t seem like he was going to say anything else. Joan quickly sketched the symbol on his shirt onto her notes.

“Okay, Jack, can you tell me why you’re here? You don’t have an appointment,” Joan told him, seeing him frown suddenly and look at her.

“I don’t? Damn. I was lied to. Whatever, still need to talk to you.” Jack huffed and sat up. “You work for the… uh… AM, right?”

Joan felt her shoulders tense. She was certain Jack noticed it too.

“How do you know that?” she asked.

“Because my bosses are your bosses’ bosses’ bosses!” he said, grinning.

Joan stared at him. Jack snickered and waved a hand theatrically.

“Don’t look so shocked, it’s not like they haven’t kept all sorts of secrets from you!” His grin sharpened. “Only the highest ranking officials are supposed to know about it, regardless.”

Joan frowned.

“Then why are you telling me about it?” she asked cautiously.

Jack’s grin didn’t change.

“That’s the million dollar question! My bosses don’t usually send me out to talk to people like this. I’m the Personnel Director, sure, but you’re already hired and in an admittedly interesting position in your own division, which keeps you out of mine. Frankly, under normal circumstances we likely never would have met. So!” Jack leaned in slightly. “Tell me: why do you think the people in positions over both of us asked me to come in and talk to you?”

The first thought Joan had was that her attempt to save Mark had repercussions that went further than she’d thought. But, the AM had been plenty upset at her and had still let her open her clinic. If someone higher up than Wadsworth had a problem with her, she would have heard about it before now. Probably, anyway.

“May I ask who you’re the Personnel Director for?” she asked instead of answering his question.

Jack sat back a bit, looking oddly pleased, and answered, “I work for the SCP Foundation. Don’t bother asking for more information, if I tell you I’ll get yelled at.”

Joan nodded. Much as she wanted to know more, any group working above the AM would likely be even more secretive.

“Is your Foundation upset with me?” she asked.

Jack cocked his head to the side, frowning as he considered it.

“Not that I know of?” he answered after a moment, “They wouldn’t have sent me if they were.”

Joan did not like the implication that the “Foundation” would have sent someone worse if she had truly upset them.

“Are they upset with you?”

Jack snorted and slouched back onto the couch, grinning again.

“Nah. This isn’t how they handle me when they’re mad.”

Joan couldn’t help the tendril of concern she felt at that. She didn’t want to feel worried over a complete stranger who seemed to be there to threaten her, but that had sent up a bright red flag for her.

Jack’s grin twisted a bit, like he knew what she was thinking and didn’t appreciate it.

“Look, Dr. Bri- you know what? Can’t do it. Can I call you Joan?” he asked, grin vanishing as he sat up and intertwined his hands over his lap.

Joan, rather suddenly, felt that comparing Jack to Damien was a disservice to her patient. The way Jack looked at her wasn’t the smug, “I have the power here” look that Damien would give her at his worst; it was an empty, calculating look that made her feel like he was carefully dissecting her, assigning value to all her parts, and weighing which were worth keeping.

“That’s not very professional,” she answered, keeping her voice steady.

“I’m not a patient and that’s not a no. Joan. I’m not one for field assignments. I usually have too much work to do and run too high of a kidnapping risk. So when the powers that be told me to take a detour here to talk to you, a pariah psychologist from a group that the Foundation’s recently taken over, I was worried. Concerned. It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve sent me into an anomalous situation without telling me, and when I heard your name, well, I assumed the worst.”

Joan frowned. Kidnapping risk? Anomalous situation? And what was wrong with her name?

Jack continued to watch her with that unnerving expression. She wished he would grin again, if only so he’d stop looking at her like that.

“But here’s the thing: you’re not a copy. Not only have I never met you, but there are certain tells that you just don’t have. It’s unlike the Foundation to send me after false leads, so something I don’t know about is going on. And Joan?” Jack leaned forward. “I don’t like not knowing things. That gets good people killed. So tell me. Why do you think they sent me to talk to you?”

Joan swallowed. What could she tell him? He knew she worked for the AM, so he likely knew she worked with atypicals (anomalous, he’d said, anomalous situations without warning) and could very well be one himself, for all she knew. Did he know about Mark? About her plans to free him? Was this Foundation going to interfere with that? Did they want her brother too?

Jack suddenly leaned back on the couch in a way that reminded Joan of a cat sitting up from a crouch. He glanced around her office again, then looked back at her with another grin. Something about the smile felt even less friendly than before.

“You know, if it makes you feel better, I’m pretty sure my bosses are more impressed with your work than worried you’re doing something stupid.” It did not make her feel better. “The fact that you clammed up instead of saying something to make me stop questioning you might even make them want to hire you.”

Joan only barely kept the confusion she felt off her face. What was he talking about now?

Jack stood up, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Whelp, I’ve been here long enough, and you’ve got a patient coming in soon. Maybe we’ll see each other again someday! Thanks for the talk, Joan!”

“Feel free to call ahead, Dr. Bright,” Joan said carefully.

If Jack really was working with people who had more authority than Wadsworth, seeing him again would likely only mean bad things for her. Not to mention, he creeped her out.

Jack opened the door and jolted back a step. Chloe stood right outside the door frame, clearly just as shocked. Apparently she’d been about to open the door too.

“Hi!” Jack said, smiling bemusedly.

Chloe just stared at him, eyes narrowing as she frowned in concentration.

Jack’s friendly smile dropped into something much less comfortable.

“Look, telepath, could you not go poking around in there? You might-”

Chloe suddenly staggered, then shoved past Jack and stood between him and Joan as if she was planning on bodily protecting her from him.

“Get out,” Chloe hissed, “Whatever you are, get out, get OUT! You can’t have her!”

Jack sighed, and rolled his eyes.

“Kiddo, if I wanted to hurt her, I would have already done it, and you wouldn’t have been able to stop me. Relax. I’m leaving, and you can make sure she’s fine. Okay?”

Chloe was shaking. Joan could see tears in her eyes.

Jack shot Joan a grin over Chloe’s shoulder.

“See ya, Joan!”

And he walked out.

Joan quickly stood up from her desk and hurried to Chloe, gasping a bit when the girl immediately wrapped her in a desperate, crushing hug.

“Dr. Bright,” she whimpered, “Oh god, oh god, it didn’t hurt you right?! It didn’t- it didn’t-”

“I’m fine, Chloe, I’m alright, it’s okay,” Joan murmured, carefully returning the hug and rubbing Chloe’s back in an attempt to soothe her.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just- that thing, so many minds all crushed and mangled and chained together and it doesn’t even care, it can’t care anymore, it’s horrible-!” Chloe sobbed.

“Shh, breathe, Chloe, can you breathe with me?” Joan continued her murmuring, purposely breathing and feeling Chloe attempt to mimic it.

“It’s wrong. It felt so wrong. I was so scared that it was going to take you too…” she whispered, burying her face into Joan’s shoulder.

“I’m here. I’m safe. It’s okay, I promise. Jack won’t be coming back any time soon, okay?”

Chloe nodded, but refused to let go of her. Joan gently guided them to the couch, sitting them down and letting Chloe hold her until her breathing calmed and the sobbing stopped.

“Are you okay?” Joan asked, pulling away just enough to look Chloe in the eyes.

Chloe nodded, rubbing her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I just… whatever that was, I know it called itself Jack but it’s not human, not anymore, it’s just this awful conglomeration of minds and they all have to work for it and I don’t know what it has to do to get new ones but I know it can and what do you mean it’s working with the AM?!” Chloe screeched suddenly, looking even more terrified.

“Oh no, oh fuck, Dr. Bright, what did it want? Why did it want to talk to you? Oh god, what if it was here to take your mind too?! You can’t let it come back, you can’t, it-”

“Chloe!” Joan interrupted, “Look at me. Breathe, just like that, breathe. It’s okay, I’m okay.”

Chloe slowly did as she was told, leaning into Joan as she did.

“Jack didn’t hurt me. I really think he just wanted to talk. I doubt he’ll be coming back regardless. It’s okay. I’m okay,” Joan soothed.

She was very determinedly not thinking about everything Chloe just said. If she started panicking Chloe would start panicking again and that was the opposite of what she wanted. She could think about Jack and whatever he may have been later.

Right now, she needed to focus on Chloe.

**Author's Note:**

> Would you believe this was originally supposed to be funny?
> 
> (Yeah, okay, there's also my headcanon that the way Jack's mind doesn't just start dropping information due to lack of space is by utilizing the mostly-emptied minds of 963's hosts as storage.)


End file.
